Insomnia: What Is It And Why Do We Suffer From It?

This may explain why you can't sleep.

Insomnia is a waking nightmare, literally. All you want to do is go to sleep, but the more you panic about not sleeping, the harder it is to drift off.

The School Of Life believes insomnia "is the mind's revenge for something important that we have forgotten to do in the day".

Most of us have a lot of stuff on our minds on a daily basis, which help to stifle the deeper questions we should be asking ourselves, such as where we are going with our lives, what our purpose is and what our values are.

However at night, when the only task you need to focus on is getting to sleep, all of these big questions are suddenly flung to the front of our minds.

According to The School of Life, we have an inbuilt mechanism in our bodies which keeps us awake at night so that we can process all of these philosophical questions.

They believe that the way to deal with insomnia does not lie in pills, a cup of tea or a long bath. But it lies in taking time out throughout the day to reflect on these bigger questions and meditate.

"Insomnia is seldom a physical disease," says the narrator. "It's an inarticulate, maddening, but ultimately healthy plea released by our core self that we confront the issues that we've put off for so long.

"It's about not having given ourselves a chance to think."

Do you find meditation helps combat insomnia? Let us know in the comments below.